Health commitments: Polio vaccination drive resumes

Teams will focus on immigrant children.

BAHAWALPUR/ FAISALABAD/ LAHORE/ BHAKKAR:

Hundreds of thousands of children across the province were administered polio drops as part of a three-day vaccination drive launched on Monday.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq inaugurated the polio campaign at a hospital in Model Town in Lahore.

Extended Programme for Immunisation Director Munir Ahmed, World Health Organisation representative Ubaidul Islam and senior officials of the Health Department were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, Raza urged women to ensure their children were vaccinated regularly.

She said the drive would focus on immunisation of immigrants’ children.



She also visited a union council with a large immigrant population and monitored performance of the polio teams.

She met the elders of the community and spoke to them about the importance of the drive.

Residents of the area told her that they lacked access to safe drinking water and demanded installation of water filtration plants.

In Faisalabad, DCO Noorul Amin Mengal said as many as 1,318,285 children under the age of five years would be administered polio drops in the drive.

He said 2,762 teams of the Health Department had been constituted for the drive.

The DCO said 2,243 teams would go door to door to vaccinate children at their homes.

He said 289 union council monitoring officers had been appointed and 458 area heads would supervise the campaign.

The DCO said some polio teams had been deputed at recreational spots, the general bus stand, and other public places to provide vaccinations on the spot.

He said announcements were also being made through loudspeakers about the drive.

City Police Officer (CPO) Sohail Habib Tajik said a comprehensive security plan had been devised for protection of polio workers during the campaign.

He said 2,319 police officials would be on security duties. He said 10 reserve forces of the Punjab Constabulary would remain on stand by to cope with any emergencies.

The CPO said SHOs had been directed to ensure patrolling in areas being covered by the polio teams.

In Bahawalpur, Executive District Health Officer Shahid Khaleeq said 587,000 children under five years would be administered the polio vaccine.

He said 1,293 teams had been constituted for this purpose. He said 1,025 mobile teams would a conduct door-to-door drive and 147 fixed teams and 106 mobile teams would administer polio vaccine at hospitals, basic health units, rural health centres (RHCs), the general bus stand, railway station and toll plazas.

He said 15 teams would be deputed at markets.

In Bhakkar, Health Department officials said 163,148 children would be vaccinated in the drive.

The Health Department formed 682 teams for the campaign and 1,300 workers were deployed for this purpose.

As many as 300 policemen were deployed for security of the polio teams. 574 mobile teams were constituted for a door-to-door campaign and 44 fixed teams at hospitals.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2015.